Lost and Found
by Bumblebee'sFanFemme
Summary: Wildfrost had been alone in space for a long time, but when she recieves Optimus's message, she heads to Earth. She is reunited with old friends, and enemies. But what happens when old memories come back to haunt her? Ratchet/OC
1. Chapter 1

Yes, I'm starting_ another_ new fanfiction. Blame the plot bunnies! Currently I have atleast 5 current fanfiction plots, so this should should become fairly normal. XD This is a short chapter, but it's meant as a prologue.

I would like to thank Optimus Bob for Beta'ing for me!

* * *

"_We are here…we, are waiting." _

The voice flowed into the creature's mind, making parts of the robot's processor that haven't been in use for vorns activate. A tracker beacon inside its processor instantly locked onto the signal and traced it to an organic planet quite a few light-years away. The alerts in it told that the lone Cybertronian would land in a certain place, but they didn't listen.

The mass of metal slowly began to whirr, and used the tiny amount of energy it had left to slowly move onto the path of the planet the signal came from. The body stayed mostly offline and dark, ignoring the alerts going off in its mind alerting it of its horrible physical shape that they already knew of. Slowly, a pair of emerald optics flickered on. They were dim, but still showed life inside the hollow shell. They caught sight of the galaxy they were heading to, and a small flicker of hope flickered across the optics.

If the transmission was true and wasn't just a hallucination, they would finally be with others. They wouldn't have to be alone anymore.

Optimus stood outside, watching Ironhide shoot at his targets next to the human soldiers frantically trying to avoid being stepped on. He wanted to warn Ironhide to be careful, but he knew that the black mech was watching what he was doing since the human he protected was one of the soldiers below.

Optimus had lost track of time, but it was about a year since the Autobots had defeated the Decepticons in Mission City. After saving the city, not to mention probably the world, they had been welcomed warmly by the human government, along with their few non-military human allies. The Autobots were learning more and more about the strange planet they were on, and were beginning to feel at home for the first time in a long, long time.

The human government had decided shortly after Mission City to begin setting up a secret project called N.E.S.T., which was where the Autobots and specially picked soldiers would locate the remaining Decepticons and take care of them so no more harm would come to the planet. So far, there hasn't been much action that required the Autobots' help. Two Decepticons had come out of hiding so far, but they were taken care of.

The blue and red mech took one last glance at the sight before him, then turned back into their base to do his rounds.

He passed Bumblebee sitting in the rec room with his friends Sam and Mikaela who were both watching what the humans called a game show. Bumblebee watched fascinated at the person on TV ran across a crazy obstacle course, just to get knocked off by a spinning punching bag. The young scout's optics widened and let out a whirr of fascination that made Optimus, along with the humans, chuckle. Bumblebee shyly lowered his head, but Mikaela patted his leg to let him know they weren't making fun of him.

Optimus smiled beneath his face mask and carried on through the hallways towards the Medical Bay. The doors slid open as he walked through them, and the Autobot leader looked around for Ratchet.

_That's strange…_ Optimus thought as he walked further into the room. The CMO was absolutely nowhere to be found, which was quite peculiar because Ratchet rarely left the Med Bay unless to track down one of his patients that had 'forgotten' about their appointment or to get supplies from the supply boat when it came.

The large 'bot cautiously walked around the room, careful move anything in case Ratchet came back in. Optimus lost focus for a moment and absent-mindedly began inspecting the objects around him. Before Prime realized where he was and what he was doing, he rested a hand on top of a large beige tarp in the corner of the room.

He could feel the hard, cold metal underneath and Optimus's optic dimmed. He glanced down at the covered hunk of metal and cycled his vents. This used to be his friend, his second-in-command. Jazz had sacrificed himself for them all, buying Optimus the time he needed to get there and help protect the humans.

Prime shook his head. No matter what Ratchet and Ironhide told him, he couldn't help but feel responsible for his death. Jazz was a young soldier and had much more to live for. He shouldn't have faced Megatron. That was for Optimus to do.

"Optimus!"

The leader flinched at the sudden sound, but quickly recovered and turned to see a wide-optic medic standing by the door.

"Ratchet! I was just-"

Ratchet stared at him with understanding but mildly annoyed optics. "I know, Prime, but that's not important right now. We just tracked a Cybertronian signal entering orbit."

Prime contained his surprise quite well, but he was sure Ratchet knew it was just as much of a shock to him as it probably was to the medic himself. Optimus had hoped someone had heard his message, but he hadn't expected others to land so soon. The leader strode towards the door and exited with Ratchet walking in sync.

"Have you alerted Ironhide and Bumblebee?"

Ratchet nodded. "Yes, Bumblebee requested to stay here with Sam and Mikaela for protection purposes."

Optimus nodded as well, and was already figuring out a strategy by the time they walked into the control room. They were greeted by the recently promoted Major Lennox and his team, along with Ironhide.

"What's going on, Major?" Optimus asked the human commander, who was discussing the image of the Cybertronian signal on the computer screen with Sergeant Epps. He looked up at Optimus.

"It seems to be heading for the desert about fifty miles from Las Vegas. If we hurry and move out soon we should be able to reach the area in about forty-five minutes, which would give us time to secure the area and clear out any people in the area."

Optimus absorbed the info and looked at his two soldiers. "We don't know if this is an Autobot or Decepticon, but either way we must be careful. Ironhide, you will drive with Lennox and the soldiers. Ratchet and I shall lead."

"Alright men you heard him, get moving!" Lennox barked at his soldiers. Once they began running to get their stuff he turned to Optimus. "Are you sure all three of you should come? That leaves one of you and a couple handfuls of my soldiers." The Major didn't want to be disrespectful, but Bumblebee seemed like a young child compared to the rest of them. He didn't want to risk the chance of putting a youngling on the front line, in case of an attack.

Optimus seemed to read his mind and answered, "Bumblebee may be young, but he is a brave soldier and has proven himself to be a worthy fighter. I'm sure they will be fine. "

Will nodded, slightly embarrassed that it was fairly obvious he had doubted the scout. He had seen what he could do during Mission City and could honestly say that Bumblebee was a true soldier. Shaking it off, the Major walked over to join his troops leaving the three Autobots to themselves.

There was an unsettling quiet between the three of them while they waited for the humans to get ready to leave. All of them were excited that there was at least one more of their kind surviving out there, but there was one thought that was circulating in all of their minds.

Who was it?

**_Prime, _**Ironhide's voice over the comm. link interrupted the other mech's thoughts. **_What if it's a Decepticon?_**

Optimus cycled his vents before answering. **_Then we will fight them like the others. It is a possibility that the Decepticons traced my message to Earth, so we must try to protect the humans as much as possible just in case. _**

Ratchet stayed quiet, which seemed unusual to the other two because he always made sure he had his say in everything. Just by looking at him, you could see was the darkened optics, but the medic showed no sign of feeling any different from usual.

**_Ratchet, are you alright? _**Optimus asked. He always felt as if it was his duty to make sure that the other Autobots were alright. They had been through many things the past couple vorns and he saw them not only as his officers, but as his friends.

**_I'm fine, Prime. _**Ratchet's normal curt reply was of no surprise to Optimus or Ironhide. Ratchet never expressed feeling outwardly unless someone did something to really make him mad. Then, you faced the wrath of the medic.

Ironhide was about to respond, but Major Lennox walked over to them. "We're ready to go!"

Optimus nodded. "Very good. Ironhide, go with them. Ratchet-" He cast a glance at the bot. "We'll talk later. But for now, Autobots, transform and roll out!"


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks everyone for the great feedback of the first chapter, I'm so glad you all liked it! This chapter hasn't been beta'd so if you see any mistakes or grammatical errors feel free to let me know. When or if the chapter gets beta'd anytime soon I'll upload that, I just thought it was time i FINALLY uploaded something. Think of it as a late b-day present from me. :D

* * *

The drive there was taking longer than any of them had expected. Because of the size of their group they were getting spilt up constantly and ended up getting stuck in traffic at least twice so far. Optimus and Ratchet had managed to stay in front, thanks to Ratchet's medic sirens, and continued driving down the finally clear highway towards the meteor's landing area.

_**Optimus, the humans and I have been caught in traffic again. Some slag head fell into recharge and hit two other cars in front of us. Will is trying to sort it out with the police on the scene to let us through, but he says we will still be about ten minutes behind you. **_Ironhide's deep voice popped up in the comm. link and Optimus sighed.

_**Alright, he's doing all he can. Please try to hurry though, we are running out of time. **_He responded. A grunt was heard from Ironhide and the line was cut.

The pair kept on driving, Ratchet's sirens blaring and Optimus following right behind. To humans they must've seemed like an odd pair of cars to be seen together. A large blue and red flamed semi following a neon green search and rescue Hummer wasn't exactly something you see every day. Normally the two cars weren't even associated together, which was something Optimus found humorous. Cars could have two completely different functions and not be given a second thought, but when they were together confusion spread like wildfire.

"We better be getting close, Optimus. This heat is getting on my last nerve." Ratchet growled out loud, successfully scaring the driver of a car next to him that had his window down.

"Ratchet," Optimus warned quietly enough that only Ratchet would hear him. "Don't scare the humans."

"Nothing else to do…" Was the medic's response.

The car turned on a different exit, leaving Ratchet and Optimus the only cars on the road for the next 10 miles or so, according to Ratchet's scanners.

"What kind of condition do you think he's in, Ratchet?" Optimus asked. Ratchet didn't call out the fact he said 'he'. They both knew it was an almost nonexistent chance it was a femme.

"Well they've probably been hiding in space for hundreds of years, so chances are their energy levels will be low. Minor repairs will probably be all that is needed."

"Very good, Ratchet." Optimus checked the map he had downloaded before they had left and noticed their turn was the next one. "We must turn on the next exit."

The two machines made a sharp turn at the exit, and happily found out there was no one else traveling this way. "It seems deserted." Ratchet examined. "We should be safe from humans seeing us."

They traveled down the road until they reached a dead end sign. Optimus scanned the area and noted the closest human residence was back by the exit from the highway. "I believe we are safe to transform." He stated.

Ratchet scanned the area just to make sure before transforming, soon followed by Optimus. The pair glanced around before walking out into the desert towards where the scanners said the Cybertronian was heading.

They talked about a few random things, but soon the conversation died down and they got closer to the location they need to be at. They both scanned the area and the air around them, seeing if it was getting any closer. Optimus pulled up the tracker from the computers back at base and watched the dot that was the landing Cybertronian slowly move closer and closer. The red dot got brighter on the screen and flashed for a moment, but then suddenly, it disappeared.

Optimus quirked an eye ridge and scanned it again, but the dot still did not show up. "Ratchet, it just disappeared…"

Ratchet's optics widened. "It what? They should be in the atmosphere by now and easier to track!" Ratchet sighed and rubbed his optics. "Maybe the human's technology glitched. There might not have even been a new Cybertronian-"

He didn't finish the sentence before the ground began shaking and a roaring filled both of their audio sensors. Optimus tried to focus on where the noise was coming from, until he realized it was _above_ them. Obviously Ratchet had already figured this out because his weapons were drawn and the buzzing of his saws clashed with the roaring sound from the sky.

The medic's optics widened and quickly ran the other way. "Move it, Prime unless you want to be scrap metal!"

Optimus turned to see a flaming ball of fire hurtling down over the road and heading right towards them. He quickly moved out of the way, transforming to gain some speed. Even as he moved away he could feel the extreme heat radiating off of it and made his internal coolers kick on at full blast to keep him from overheating.

Once he was far enough away he shifted into his bi-pedal mode again and along with Ratchet watched the metal outer shell break apart as it flew, sending big shards of metal flying in every direction. The roaring grew louder and the ground shook as it got closer to the ground. The meteor then crashed into the ground with a final large shake, making Optimus and Ratchet collapse on the ground.

The air was eerily silent after that as the two stared warily at the giant crater to make sure there were no sudden movements.

"Optimus!"

Optimus turned to see Ironhide working his way over to them, cannons out and aimed at crash site. Finally he made his way over and helped Optimus stand up since apparently Ratchet had already by himself. "Are you alright, Prime?"

Optimus nodded and cast a glance at the soldiers that had quickly surrounded the crater. They all had their weapons loaded and aimed, just in case the visitor was less than friendly. The three mechs walked over just in time to hear Lennox yell: "Okay men, this is definitely Cybertronian so keep your guard up!"

The soldiers yelled back in a chorus of 'Yes sir!' as the three of them passed. They stopped right in front of the troops, cannons and weapons out just in case. Optimus made a move to go first, but Ratchet put a hand on his shoulder. "Prime, you're not going first. This could be dangerous and we certainly need our Prime more than you need me." He considered that for a moment. "Even if you'd all probably be in a scrap heap without me."

Ratchet cautiously made his way forward and worked his way down into the crater. When the medic got down there he was out of sight to everyone except Ironhide and Prime. The metal shape had fallen out of its original circular form and instead, a mostly gray body laid there. There were faint hints of blue and gold, but they were little. Ratchet got closer and kneeled down next to the creature.

There were gashes all over the body and he could see tiny lines of energon trickling out of a few. _Looks like the crash reopened some wounds._ He thought. Suddenly, the body shifted and the optics shuttered open. They were green.

Ratchet's own optics widened when he saw the neutral color, none of them had landed so far. "Help…" The voice was quiet, but Ratchet easily picked up on it. The optics flickered off and the body seemed to gray a bit.

"Frag." Cursed the medic as he hurriedly, yet cautiously began to move the offline body. "Ironhide! Prime! Get your afts down here and help me!" He roared over his shoulder. He was not going to waste time being polite. The two climbed down in time to see him hooking up some sort of lines to the Cybertronian and looked at him, obviously worried.

"Ratchet, what's going on?" Prime asked.

Ratchet was already climbing out of the crater and forcing Ironhide to help carry the body. "It's a femme, Optimus."

Ironhide stiffened for a moment and looked down at it, almost instantly noticing the differences in the body shape. Ratchet handed her to him and he climbed out of the crater, and then took her back. "Lennox!"

The military man stared wide-eyed at the femme and pointed a finger, then made a rather obvious statement. "Those look pretty bad."

Ratchet had to force himself to hold bad the comment he wanted to use, but nodded his head. "Yes, it is 'pretty bad' and she's too big to load into me. We need a trailer, stat."

Will talked into his walky talky for a moment and grinned back up at Ratchet. "We brought one just in case they wouldn't have an alt. mode."

A military vehicle drove towards them, dust clouds coming up form under the wheels. It came to a quick stop in front of the bots and the soldiers hopped out. "Sir, I don't think the car can haul the weight of the trailer and the Cybertronian."

"I'll carry it." Optimus told them. He quickly transformed and the soldiers hooked him up to the carrier. Ironhide walked with Ratchet to the trailer and helped load her in. Before she was put in, Ratchet caught sight of two bright yellow crosses, one of each shoulder.

"She's a medic…" he muttered to himself.

The door to the trailer was closed and locked shut and Prime backed up and turned towards the road. Ratchet's medical instincts kicked in and he quickly transformed and revved his engine. "We got to get her to base as fast as possible, those wounds are bad and needs to be fix _**now."**_

Optimus heard him and he rumbled to a start and sped towards the highway, closely followed by Ratchet, Ironhide and the military vehicles. Ratchet got in the lane in front of Optimus as they hit the highway and turned on his sirens. The hummer blasted down the highway, sirens blaring and a huge semi and army group following behind him. Easy to say, no one dared to get in their way.

Inside Ironhide's cabin Will had just gotten off the road with the police in town telling them to get the roads shut down so they could get through as fast as possible. He leaned back in the head, groaned, and rubbed his temples. "This is a bit of a mess." He mumbled to himself.

"What is?" Ironhide's gruff voice asked from the radio. Will took a glance out the window at all the military vehicles around them and raised an eyebrow at the question. "I just had to tell the whole police force to go out and shut down the roads so we could get to base faster. People will obviously be wondering why since it's quite a stretch of road. "

Will decided not to get into it and looked out the windshield at the trailer holding the mysterious new transformer. "So, I'm guessing he's in pretty bad shape, huh?"

"She." Ironhide corrected.

Lennox's eyes widened. "She? Well, that's a new one."

Ironhide grunted in response. Will, being used to it, just kept questioning. "You know who it is?"

"Negative. From my knowledge she hasn't been online yet."

He raised an eyebrow, but there was a sad look in his eye. "Well, I hope she's okay. I'm guessing there aren't too many like her left." Will said softly.

The cab was quiet for a moment but then Ironhide answered him. "Yeah, I do too."

The ringing of Lennox's phone pierced loudly through the quiet that had consumed them and Will quickly answered the call. "Lennox." He paused for a moment to listen to what they had to say, but then his eyes widened. "How far? Damn, alright we're on our way."

He snapped his phone shut and stared at the radio. "We have another one."

"Another what, a Cybertronian?" Ironhide asked. Will nodded.

"It's on course for an area about two hours from here, but they judge it won't land for about three so we'll have a bit of time to spare. I don't see point in going all the way to the base and going base out. I'll radio the troops."

'I'll radio the troops' was his way of saying: 'I'll get the humans and you tell the boss bot.', so naturally that's what he did. _**Lennox just informed me that another Cybertronian is on the way. It should land in approximately three earth hours. We're heading there immediately. **_He told them both.

Before either of them could respond, Major Lennox spoke up. "Uh, 'Hide?"

"Yes, Will?" He asked.

"We may need Prime to meet us there once he's dropped off the injured one. N.E.S.T. has a feeling this one might be in need of repairs." Will said while holding up his cell phone, signaling they had just called.

Ironhide seemed skeptical. "And why is that?"

Lennox let a small grin slip. "They just demolished a satellite and are heading towards tonight's meteor shower."

Optimus's voice popped up out of Ironhide's radio. _**I'll get there as soon as I can, Major.**_

Will nodded at the radio then picked up his pocket radio and called his troops. "Alright men, let's go!"

More then half the cars behind Optimus veered off of the highway onto a road that led them to their destination. Ratchet and Optimus kept speeding down the highway towards the base which was now only about twenty minutes away. Optimus did a quick scan of the being in the trailer and noticed her signature was weaker than before.

_**Ratchet, her spark signature's growing weaker.**_

There was a curse from the medic and he immediately sped up. _**I can't do anything right now so we just got to hurry.**_

The two drove in silence after that, trying to keep themselves focused on what they were doing. But each knew they were thinking the same thing. They couldn't let her go offline.

* * *

They arrived at the base faster than they had planned, which was a blessing to Ratchet. The gate had opened for them by the time they had reached it so they could travel to the base at the speed they were at, which was quite illegal if they were normal cars.

Ratchet slowed down a bit once they reached the buildings but he did a quick transformation and skidded to a stop on his pedes. Optimus pulled in right after him and Ratchet walked around to the back of the trailer and lifted up the door. He carefully pulled the femme out and cradled her in his arms while sliding the door shut again.

He nodded at Optimus quickly as he headed towards his Med Bay. Optimus honked back and quickly put himself in reverse and took off back up the road to the area he was supposed to meet Ironhide and the soldiers.

The medic wasted no time getting to his Med Bay. He shouted at the soldiers to move as he passed through the hallway, which was more for their safety than anything. He decided to take a shortcut going through the Rec Room and noticed Bumblebee sitting there with Sam and Mikaela.

"Bumblebee!" He shouted. The mech glanced at him but jumped up when he saw the body in his arms. "I'm going to need your help."

Bumblebee looked back at Sam and Mikaela and made the motion to 'stay here' and followed while the humans watched in confusion. Bumblebee sprinted ahead when they got to the Med Bay and opened the door for Ratchet, who as soon as he got in ran over to one of his operating table and laid her down.

The first thing he did once she was secured on the table was check her vitals. His optics darkened and he muttered, "Primus…". Her scans very probably some of the worst he had seen in a _very_ long time. What scared him the most was her energon levels, which was almost at dead bottom.

He looked at Bumblebee then point to a machine in the corner of the room. "Bring that over, quick."

_/ Yes sir! / _Bumblebee raced over to it and picked it up. He had to adjust to the heavy weight for a second, but then he carried it over and set it gently next to Ratchet. The medic quickly flipped the switch on it, a low thrumming now filling the room, and grabbed tiny hose-like cables from the side. He quickly slid it under the armor plating around her wrist and did the same thing on the other arm. He grabbed one other one and opened up her chest plating. Ratchet slipped it in carefully next to her spark chamber and made sure it connected to her main energon line.

He crouched down next to the machine and pressed a button then stood back up. A pinkish purple liquid slowly worked its way through the tubes and into her body. Bumblebee watched in fascination and slowly moved to the other side of the table.

It was obvious to him that she was a femme, even if she was banged up and still basically in protoform. He hated seeing her like this. Pit, he'd hate seeing_ anyone_ like this! Ratchet glanced over at the young mech and sighed. "Her vitals are dangerously low. It's a miracle she made it here. I have no idea when she'll wake up."

Bumblebee whirred sadly but then tilted his helm to the side. _/ Who is she? /_

Ratchet shrugged. "No idea. " He turned around and walked towards his tool bin. "I should start working on welding those gashes; they look like they've been open for vorns."

But Bumblebee wasn't listening. It irritated him that Ratchet didn't know who the femme was. His optics slowly scanned her body, looking for clues. He could see dirty splashes of light blue in various areas on her upper torso and legs, with gold mixed in. Bumblebee's attention was then caught by the yellow crosses on her shoulders. His spark lurched and his processor whirred, trying to match up the similarities to a person he knew.

"Bumblebee." Ratchet said, snapping him out of his thoughts. "You should probably go back with Sam and Mikaela.

Bumblebee nodded and with one last glance at the femme, slowly walked out of the room. No matter what he tried he couldn't shake the femme out of his mind. She was important in some way, that's what he was beginning to realize. He knew her.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey everyone! So I didn't realize I had already put this chapter up, but I added and changed things, so please read it so you aren't confused! I'm trying to get back into the writing swing, so this should help me. I hope you like it. :)

* * *

Ratchet had been working against the clock. The femme's spark signature continued to rise and wane constantly, and he was never sure if he would lose her or not. But that was not an option for the medic.

He was currently arm deep in wiring, reconnecting ones that had come loose and repairing leaking lines. Ratchet couldn't hide his surprise by how many broken wires there actually were. Ratchet slowly pulled his hands out and checked to make sure the energon was flowing correctly through her systems before replacing the armor in the area he had been inspecting.

He stood back and crossed his arms; looking at his work so far. She was hooked up to tubes in various places and the machine giving her energon hummed almost silently beside the body. Her optics were a scary dark gray and almost all her armor was gone. Most of it was intact, but a few parts he'd have to replace.

Ratchet shook his helm and made a sound like he was sighing. He glanced around him and when he spotted what he was looking for; he pulled the chair over and sat down none so gently. Resting his helm in his hand, his optics never left the body on the table.

Ratchet would never admit it to anyone, but that femme had scared the slag out of him. Every time her stats dropped his spark pulsed faster and he pushed his hardest to get her back. It terrified him even if he seemed professional and calm about it all. He hadn't expected the new comer to be in such bad condition, let alone a femme. He never said he couldn't fix her, he wasn't humble about his medical skills, but the stakes were high. With her being one of the last femmes and since they hadn't heard from others in a long time, it would be a great loss if he couldn't save her.

Ratchet refused to look back at the offline body in the corner of the room. It was what made him so nervous about losing her. He didn't want another Autobot to die because he wasn't enough to save them.

All at once things began to happen. Shouting and engines could be heard outside and they seemed to be getting closer. Ratchet stood up just as the door to the Med Bay flew open and Bumblebee slowly backed into the room. It took Ratchet a moment to realize he was helping Ironhide carry something- or someone- in. His question was answered when they lowered it onto a table and he could see a silver protoform lying there, beat and torn up.

Ironhide flexed his arms and grunted before turning to face Ratchet. His optics brightened and he stared at Ratchet a bit stunned. "Primus, Ratchet, that's a lot o' energon."

The medic glanced down at himself and registered that he had energon residue all over his arms and chassis. He noted he'd have to get it off before it stained, but paid no attention to it besides that. He turned to the patient. "Who is it Ironhide?"

A slight smirk appeared on his face as he glanced over at the offline body on the berth. "Just the mech you've been hoping to show up, Ratchet." He said.

Ratchet crossed his arms in an 'Oh really?' way. "And who would that be?" He asked.

"Sideswipe." Ironhide said nonchalantly.

Ratchet's optics darted to the form lying on the table. Just by looking no one would be able to tell who it was, but when he looked closer he saw.

On the corner of the chassis he saw small Cybertronian symbols that wrote out a name he was all too familiar with; the speedster's yellow twin. When Ratchet walked over and observed the faceplates, he saw the faintest hint of a smirk etched onto the mouth plates. Suddenly, the optics powered online and a faint blue glow lit up the room. The blue orbs looked around, obviously disoriented, until they landed on Ratchet and the tiny smirk turned into a grin.

"Hey Hatchet." Sideswipe's voice was raspy when he spoke, but it was still understandable. His optics darted over to the femme lying on the berth next to his. "You put me by a femme? You're already taking care of me!"

Ratchet growled lowly and stared Sideswipe down, the impatience he normally felt around this mech already appearing. "Don't get too comfy."

Sideswipe just smirked up at the medic and the optics slowly faded back to gray until he was laying offline once again.

Ironhide let out a surprised chuckle he had been trying to hold in. "Would you look at that! The fragger pulled himself out of stasis just to talk to you, Ratchet." He said with humor in his voice.

"Lucky me…" Ratchet sighed. He was relieved that Sideswipe was okay and Ironhide knew that, even if the medic didn't show it.

"I have work to do; out," Ratchet said, pointing to the door.

Ironhide nodded and headed towards the door. Ratchet's attitude really didn't even register as rude to him anymore; he was used to it. "I'll check in later."

Ratchet heard the door swish open and Ironhide's heavy footsteps echoed down the hall until the door closed behind him; leaving the medic to do his job in silence.

**AUDIO: Rebooting…Audio Online.**

**SENSORS: Rebooting…Sensors Online.**

**OPTICS: Rebooting…Optics Online.**

**STASIS: Online.**

**WARNING: Reserves low! Minimal use recommended. **

The alerts in her vision slowly faded away and her optics powered up. It was dark, almost pitch black. Her intakes hitched and she tensed. Had it all been fake? Did she not land? Panic began to rise in her spark. She was still all alone within the painfully silent void of space, wasn't she?

"You're awake."

The voice startled her, and she turned her head quickly towards the sound. Pain exploded in her processor at the sudden, causing her to wince and let out a groan. Her vision grew fuzzy and more warnings began beeping at her, but the femme tried to stay online.

The voice chuckled quietly. "Normally I would say that sounded hot, but that seemed like it hurt. Move slowly."

Her optics shuttered, yet she onlined them again and turned her helm slowly towards the sound of the voice. It was dark, but she could see the outline of a mech lying on a recharge berth not too far away. His optics were dimmed, but the blue glow lit the room in an almost eerie way.

They looked at each other for a moment. "Where am I?" The femme was startled by the sound of her own voice. It had been a long time since she had talked to another. The mech tried to shift into sitting position, but his body groaned at the pressure he was putting on it, so he laid back down with a sigh.

"We're apparently on a planet called Earth. But if you want to be technical, we're in the Autobot Med Bay."

When the words 'Med Bay' left his mouth, her spark clenched for some reason unknown to her. "Earth?" She rasped.

"An organic planet," He responded, his optics seeming to change emotion. "It's covered in little fleshy organisms. I personally think they're kind of gross, but hey. Whatever works I guess."

The femme made a small nod, but in reality had no idea what he was talking about. Her mind still wasn't clear enough to think about that; she was still in shock that she was with an actual Cybertronian. Suddenly her optics flickered and she felt her body begin to slow as yet again warnings popped up in her vision.

The unknown mech's optics glowed brighter and a small, knowing smirk appeared on his face. "You're exhausted. Go recharge."

She could barely get out another nod before her consciousness slipped away.

Sideswipe watched her for a moment more before offlining his own optics. He thought to himself while his body began to shut down as well. She had said only a few words, but it was all it took to bring back memories of home.

In the early hours of the morning before even the soldiers were up, the Med Bay doors swished open and Ratchet stepped inside, reading over a data pad. He set it down on his desk before going over to the energon dispenser.

He walked back in the room a few minutes later and glanced over at his two patients on the other side of the room. As Ratchet made his way over his processor was already going over their medical files from yesterday. Nothing seemed to have changed in their conditions at all, making Ratchet sigh.

Just from the looks of them Ratchet could say they'd be in the Bay for days easily, but with the internal damage the femme had taken…who knows how long she'd be in there.

He looked down at her with soft optics.

"What happened to you?" He muttered softly, taking in all the damage again. He shook his helm and looked up, only to jump back when he saw Sideswipe staring at him.

"Primus!" The medic yelped.

Sideswipe grinned. "Did I scare you?"

Ratchet just rolled his optics and relaxed his tense stance, refusing to give Sideswipe a victory. "How are you feeling?"

Sideswipe tried to shrug, but winced in pain. "Like Pit. At least I can stay out of stasis longer now." He said.

Ratchet frowned. "What hurts?"

Sideswipe merely raised an optic ridge and looked down at his body as he propped himself up, armor splaying around on the bench next to it.

Ratchet's lip components slipped up into a smirk slightly. "Right. I'll get to work on it," he said as he walked over to the younger mech. "Lay down."

Sideswipe listened to the command without hesitation and let Ratchet begin on his work, but he wasn't focused on the medic.

Ratchet worked in silence and Sideswipe laid there, his helm turned to face the wall. "She woke up last night," he told Ratchet as he looked at the femme lying by him.

Ratchet paused what he was doing and looked quickly over at her as well. "She did? Why didn't you page me?"

Sideswipe was quiet for a moment before responding. "She seemed panicked. I didn't think she could handle a lot of commotion at one time."

"That was quite thoughtful of you Sideswipe," Ratchet mused, seeming a bit surprised.

Sideswipe looked up at him. "I'm not my brother, I care about others," he said with a half-joking smile. The younger mech looked at her again. "I'm going to try to get her to talk more. Ratchet, something seems off about her, like she can't…remember. If it's not that, something just seems wrong."

Ratchet picked up on the emotion the last word held. He wasn't sure what it was, but the mech seemed determined. Still, the possibility of memory loss was not a good sign.

"What makes you say that?" Ratchet asked as he pulled his gaze from the unconscious femme and back to Sideswipe, scanning over him.

Sideswipe started to shrug, but winced and stopped. "She seemed really freaked out, which I guess could be a decent reaction if you woke up on some random berth. But, when I looked at her optics they just seemed hazy. They were green, too. "

At first Ratchet had just thought Sideswipe was just imagining things, and even though these weren't significant signs he figured it was worth checking out. Yet at the mention of emerald optics he paused, seeming slightly surprised. So she was a neutral, or at least she that's what the optic color led him to believe. Strange, he hadn't run into one of them even in his last few orns on Cybertron.

"I'll make sure to look into it, but for now you're my main priority. If you want to be able to walk around soon, you're going to need some work on your leg armor. It's bent back pretty bad," He told him.

Sideswipe let a loud cycle escape his body in the form of a groan. "That means I'm going to be stuck in here for a while, doesn't it?" He tried to keep the whine out of his voice, honestly he did, but it was hard to do. Laying here was _so _boring!

Ratchet just gave him a bemused look and chuckled. "Maybe next time avoid the meteor shower, it may save you some damage."

Sideswipe couldn't help but laugh as well, having the sense to look sheepish. "Yeah, that could be a good idea," He agreed, causing Ratchet to give him a quick 'well obviously' glance.

The medic continued for work, every once in a while answering one of Sideswipe's question as the young mech laid on the table patiently. Sideswipe didn't talk as much as Ratchet remembered, but he figured it was because he had began turning off his vocal processors whenever Ratchet started welding some of his protoform back together.

Ratchet really had hoped Sideswipe would be in stasis while he did the procedures since it wasn't an easy operation on the mech being worked on, so he was glad when Sideswipe's optics began to dim.

"I think I'm going to recharge for a bit…" Sideswipe managed out, his voice slurring a bit as his tiredness took over.

"You do that," Ratchet nodded at him, and waited until he drifted off into recharge to continue with the repairs. Even at the rate he was going Sideswipe wouldn't be fully repaired for a couple more days, at least.

He worked for another twenty to thirty minutes before finally putting down his tools. He had done enough for now; the armor needed time to 'dry' in a sense before he continued working on it. Ratchet walked over to his bench where he kept all his needed tools and cleaned off the ones he was using before putting them away.

Ratchet stood there for a moment as he thought of something else to do, but then turned on his pedes to look at the femme still lying there. For all he knew Sideswipe could've just imagined her waking up, but there was only one way to be sure.

He walked over to the machine connected to her and opened a little compartment. Then, a small cord slid out of Ratchet's arm and connected into the compartment, sending her monitored data into his processor. Yes, she had indeed gone online last night, but it was only for a matter of minutes. Still, it proved Sideswipe was right which gave him enough of a reason to check out her processor once more.

Unplugging the cord and sliding the compartment shut, Ratchet moved towards her helm. He plugged the cord into a small indent on the side of her helm, behind her left optic. He searched through the data that popped up from the storage compartment of her processor that he had tapped into, optics dimmed as the data flooded in.

So far there was no sign of physical blockage of memory, damaged parts, or anything else that could be medically wrong with her processor. He thought about hacking into her main memory core to see if he could find her designation, but decided it was too risky. After searching a bit more he ejected the cord from her processor and it slid back into the compartment in his armor, and Ratchet stepped away from the table.

He crossed his arms and studied her once more. It wasn't anything he could find… So unless Sideswipe was wrong, the femme had to be blocking out memories on her own. He didn't know why she was doing that, but there was no way he'd be able to find out until she woke again. Hopefully, that would be soon. His vents cycled tiredly as the medic took one last glance at his offline patients. They would be alright, he was sure of that, he could patch them up easily over a couple earth days.

A small smile appeared on his faceplates. Even though they weren't in the best of shape, it was still good to see two bots online and with their own kind again. His optics wandered to the femme again, and once more the same question popped into his processor. Who was she?

The medic gave a small helm shake and turned to the door, walking out to go deliver the medical reports to Optimus. The electronic door slid open when Ratchet came in range, but as the medic went to step through he jerked back in surprise, optics flashing as he merely avoided running into the smaller form of Bumblebee. The yellow mech let out a chirp of surprise, optics swiveling larger as he stepped backwards. "_Sorry- Ratchet!"_

The medic raised a servo and shook it, reassuring him it was okay. "Its fine, Bumblebee." He said, but he paused when he noticed the scout's optics were not on him, but instead they were trained on something behind him. Ratchet looked at him in mild confusing before turning to follow his gaze, which led him back to the two patients behind him, but Bee seemed to be transfixed on the femme.

Ratchet's optics narrowed as his confusion grew, and when he turned back to Bumblebee he noticed the mech was still staring, a strange look in his optics.

"Is everything alright, Bumblebee?" Ratchet asked warily, watching as the younger mech seemed to be startled back into the present by his voice. He whirred, the little antennas on his head folding back in slight sheepishness. _"Everything's- a 'okay- here, sir!" _

Ratchet wasn't convinced, but he decided not to push it at the time being. He really had to get these reports to Optimus, and his time was running out. The medic watched him with a look that showed he clearly didn't quite believe him, but Ratchet nodded. "Well then, if you don't mind I have to go talk to Optimus. I'll see you later, Bumblebee."

The scout took that as his cue to leave and he nodded his helm back quickly, letting out a goodbye chirp. He started to move, but paused, glancing around Ratchet one more time, before slowly walking away. Ratchet watched him walk away, faceplates having an expression of utter confusion and slight irritation on them. He understood nothing of what had just happened, but then again with more and more younger soldiers landing that was happening quite more frequently. Cycling his vents once again, the medic finally continued on down the hall towards Optimus's quarters.


End file.
